


Sun and Mohn

by storm_aurora



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: Amnesia, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Post-Canon, Sun is a budding entrepreneur, Sun's other Pokemon appear too but they don't do much, mohn accidentally adopts a sun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:14:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27928861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_aurora/pseuds/storm_aurora
Summary: Over a year after returning from Ultra Space, Sun's finally bought the perfect island where he can realize his great-grandfather's dream of building Poké Pelago. There he meets Mohn, a strange man with a mysterious past. But Sun soon discovers that Mohn can be far more than that: a hard worker, a good friend, and just maybe...a father figure.And maybe he'll help Mohn discover something about his past, too.
Relationships: Mohn & Sun (Pokemon Adventures)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Sun and Mohn

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly: this was written as part of a collab with my good friend [Liyada](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liyada/pseuds/Liyada)! She made the gorgeous art that appears in this fic!
> 
> Secondly, the SM arc’s epilogue makes some choices that I think are kinda dumb, so for the purposes of this fic:  
> -Sun didn’t get back all the money he lost  
> -Dollar didn’t rejoin Sun’s team after failing to get revenge on Faba

"We’re almost there, I think!” Sun shouted, glancing between his paper map and the map on the navigation system.

Boating was far from his favorite method of transportation; it wasn’t even his favorite method of aquatic transportation. But the realtor had only given him a nautical map of the island he’d purchased, and the navigation system on Professor Kukui’s yacht was his only hope of being able to decipher the darn thing. So boating it was.

At least this way, his Pokémon got to enjoy the salty sea breeze, too. Most of them, anyways. Baht and Lei were tucked away in Sun’s bag, Baht preferring to stay in its Poké Ball when it couldn’t be in water and Lei being way too big and heavy to fit on the tiny little boat.

“Can you see anything?” Sun called, stepping out of the cabin. En was grooming himself on the cabin’s roof – he really enjoyed high places, for some reason – while Franc and Don kept lookout on the prow of the boat. Don let out a roar and pointed to the horizon, where Sun could see a small strip of land finally coming into view. He grinned. “There she is! Take a good look, guys – you’re looking at the future site of Poké Pelago!”

It had taken months just for Sun to _find_ another island for sale that would make a suitable location for Poké Pelago. Fortunately, the portion of his money that Lillie had been able to salvage from Poni Altar gave him a decent head start on saving up enough money to buy the island. With the consistent revenue stream his delivery service was bringing in, it hadn’t taken nearly as long to save up enough money as it had to save up the hundred million yen the first time around.

The yacht bumped onto the shore a little more roughly than intended because Sun couldn’t figure out how to slow it down in time. While Franc and Don were able to keep their balance, a loud thump followed by a furious hiss told Sun that En was jostled off the roof of the cabin. “Sorry!” he called, making a mental note to add a dock to the island as soon as possible.

He jumped off the boat onto the sandy beach and glanced around the area. One of the concepts in Great-Grandpa’s plans for Poké Pelago was an area where Pokémon could train themselves and become stronger; a big beach like this would be perfect for that kind of activity. The sand was firm enough to hold training equipment, but soft enough that Pokémon wouldn’t get hurt if they fell into it. “This is a good place to build Resort Evelup,” he declared.

Franc, Don, and En joined him on the beach. He sent out Lei and Baht as well, walking along the shoreline so that Baht could swim along next to them as they surveyed the island. From the descriptions of the island that he’d read, he had identified five areas that he could turn into Poké Pelago attractions; this beach was one of them. But before they started developing anything, Sun wanted to check out all the areas in person and make sure they were as fitting as he thought.

After leaving the beach – and picking up Baht from the water – Sun and his Pokémon made their way inland, assessing the other areas that Sun had staked out. To his delight, they were all perfectly suited for his plans: a grassy plain covered in beanstalks where they could harvest Poké Beans for Pokémon to snack on; a plain filled with rich, fertile soil where they could grow Berries for Pokémon; a shallow rock pool that they could turn into a hot spring where Pokémon could relax and let their troubles melt away. Baht eagerly leapt out of Sun’s arms to swim around the pool, so Sun let him stay there while they surveyed the final site on his checklist.

The final site was a big, dark cave in the center of the island. It seemed like the perfect place for spelunking, but that would only be fun if there were actual treasures inside to be found. He took a step into the cave, peering into the darkness, waiting for his eyes to adjust. But he couldn’t make out anything besides vague, dark shadows that could be anything from pebbles to precious jewels.

“Be careful, son. That place is dangerous if you wander in there unprepared.”

Sun yelped and whirled around. Standing behind him was a big man wearing a straw hat with tufts of platinum blond hair sticking out from underneath it. “Wh-who are you? A-and how do you know my name!?” he stuttered.

The man looked bewildered. “Huh? I don’t have any idea who you are. Why would you think…?”

“B-but you just said it! You said ‘be careful, Sun’! Didn’t you?”

“Erm…well, I did say that. But I just meant ‘son’ generically…” The man shook his head. “Your name is really _Son_?”

Sun was starting to realize his mistake. “Uh, my name’s _Sun_ . S-U-N. Like the big ball of fire in the sky. Not…uh, you know.” His cheeks felt about as warm as the big ball of fire in the sky. “Uh, back to the original question. Who are _you_? And how did you get here?”

“My name is Mohn,” the man said. “I was wandering around Alola and I built a raft so I could travel between islands, but I got blown off course and crashed here. That was…ah, I’m not quite sure how long ago it was. I haven’t really had any way to keep count of the days since I landed here.”

“Are you serious?” Sun complained. “The real estate lady didn’t say anything about there being a freeloader on my new island.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that anyone owned this island,” Mohn said. “Would you mind terribly if I stayed? I’ve come to like it here.”

Sun pursed his lips thoughtfully, appraising Mohn. Poké Pelago didn’t have room for hobos to take up space, but Mohn looked like he had enough muscle that he could be a big help constructing some of the attractions. And Sun _had_ considered the concept of hiring a caretaker for the island once Poké Pelago was open for business so that he could keep running his delivery service on the mainland. Mohn could fill that role quite nicely.

“Alright,” Sun decided. “You can live here as long as you want, and I won’t even charge you rent. But in exchange, you have to help me build and run Poké Pelago. Deal?”

Mohn blinked. “Poké Pelago?”

“That’s right. Poké Pelago is a paradise for Pokémon, and I’m going to build it right here on this island,” Sun said, spreading his arms wide.

Mohn’s brow furrowed. “Yes…yes, that sounds familiar,” he said.

“Wh– it sounds _familiar_? I – how?” Sun asked, his eyes wide.

“I don’t remember,” he said. “But I’m sure that I’ve heard of Poké Pelago before.”

“Huh,” was all Sun could say. “So, you’ll help me build it, then?”

“I will,” Mohn replied.

The conversation could have ended there. He could have gathered up all his Pokémon, headed back to Professor Kukui’s boat, and sailed back to the mainland to begin preparations for developing the island. But a niggling voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Moon reminded him that Mohn came from Alola, and he only ended up on the island by accident, and he might not want to stay on the island given the option, and Sun could give him the option.

Sun didn’t want to give him the option – what if he accepted? Sun would be losing perfectly good free labor! Mohn seemed content enough to help him, so why risk losing that?

Sun sighed. It was because it was the right thing to do, wasn’t it.

“There’s one other option,” he said, folding his hands behind his head and looking away from Mohn. “I’ve got plenty of room on my boat. I can take you back to the mainland, if you want. You can go home and get out of my hair.”

“No, thank you,” Mohn said.

“Yeah, I figured as much. We’ll leave in – wait, what?”

“Thank you for the offer, but I don’t want to go back to the mainland,” Mohn said. “Like I said, I like it here. I don’t have a home on the mainland that I can remember, and I feel like Poké Pelago is something important to me. So I’d like to stay and help you build it.”

“You don’t remember your home, you don’t remember where you’ve heard of Poké Pelago – geez, how forgetful are you?”

Mohn smiled sadly. “Very. I have amnesia.”

“Oh,” Sun squeaked.

“I remember everything from the last…six or seven years, but I can’t remember anything before that. Just some vague memories from my childhood,” he explained. “Even that much is an improvement. For a while I couldn’t remember my name at all, but seeing a species of Pokémon that I used to own as a child jogged a few memories. I hope that helping you build Poké Pelago will jog some more memories. And if not…well, I still feel like this is something I need to do.”

“Well, if you’re sure.” Sun grinned. “Welcome to the crew, Mr. Mohn!”

* * *

Before they could begin developing the island, they needed to upgrade Mohn’s living arrangements – Sun wasn’t going to force one of his employees to sleep outside every night. They built a quaint little hut for him, which floated in the shallows just offshore in order to maximize the amount of land available for development. Next to it, they built a dock for Professor Kukui’s yacht – they’d be needing it a lot to deliver supplies and materials from the mainland.

Building Resort Abeens was easy; there were already plenty of Poké Beanstalks growing in the area. They planted a few more beanstalks, and Sun bought some baskets that they could use to collect beans. Since Mohn already knew the basics of taking care of Poké Beanstalks, there was nothing else Sun needed to do to get Resort Abeens ready for business. 

He considered opening Poké Pelago up to the public at this point, but he thought it would be a little tacky to have people pay to leave their Pokémon at a resort that offered so few options for entertainment. Instead, he took a few pictures of Resort Abeens so he could start making advertisements for Poké Pelago – “Coming soon!” He’d wait until they had a few more attractions completed to have the grand opening.

Unfortunately, completing the rest of the attractions wasn’t so easy. There was a lot of manual labor to be done, and Sun, Mohn, and Sun’s Pokémon simply didn’t have enough strength or numbers to do all of it in a reasonable amount of time, especially when Sun was still splitting his time between working on Poké Pelago and running his delivery service.

“We need more Pokémon power if we want to develop this whole island,” Mohn said one day, while they were taking a break from plowing fields for Resort Aplenny. “Do you have any spare Pokémon in your Boxes?”

“Nah, I don’t do much catching,” Sun admitted. “But I’ve got plenty of friends and acquaintances across Alola. Maybe they’ve got Pokémon to spare.”

Between Moon, Hau, Gladion, Professor Kukui, and the Trial Captains, Sun was able to collect a sizable amount of new Pokémon to help with the development. No one had more than a few Pokémon in storage, but just like with collecting yen, those little increments added up. 

They quickly finished Resort Aplenny and moved on to Resort Aphun. But when progress on that attraction started to slow down because the Pokémon were getting overworked, Mohn recommended that Sun go out and catch more Pokémon to help them out.

Sun decided to go to Akala Island, figuring Pokémon like Diglett and Larvitar that lived in Diglett’s Tunnel would be well-suited to develop an underground attraction. He caught Pokémon in the cave until he ran out of Poké Balls, and then headed to Konikoni City to buy some more. Leaving the city, however, he found himself heading not back to the tunnel, but to Memorial Hill.

He hadn’t been to Memorial Hill in a long time; not since his journey across Alola to deliver the Mirage Berries to the island guardians, in fact. But now that Sun was finally realizing his great-grandpa’s dream, it only seemed right to visit his grave and let him know.

He knelt down in front of Great-Gramps’ grave. “Hey, Gramps,” he said. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve been pretty busy these last couple years.” He paused, pondering how much of the story to tell. Did it really matter? If Great-Gramps could hear what Sun was saying, he probably knew all of this already. But there were two things Sun wanted to tell him personally. “I’m sorry I couldn’t buy back your original island. But I found a new one! A nice man named Mohn is helping me to develop Poké Pelago on the new island. We’re finally gonna make your dream a reality. I hope…I hope that makes you happy.”

A quiet sound drew Sun’s attention up from the ground. Crouching on top of the headstone, staring at him with half-lidded eyes, was a Meowth. It was thin and its fur matted – much more like the fur of a Kantonian Meowth than an Alolan one. But the shape of its face and the way it crouched on the stone…it was familiar. “Dollar?” Sun said cautiously.

It made the sound again – a quiet “mrrp”. He guessed that was a confirmation.

“Dollar…were you listening to that?” Sun asked. Dollar blinked slowly. “I…I’m finally building Poké Pelago. Just like Gramps always wanted… We need help to finish developing it. Will you help us?”

Dollar leaped off the headstone and padded up to Sun. He rubbed his cheek against Sun’s hand, meowing quietly. Sun’s jaw dropped. Dollar had _never_ been so affectionate with him before. He scratched Dollar’s cheek, taking advantage of this rare mood while it lasted. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said. “Are Cent and Peso still around?”

Dollar rubbed his cheek against Sun’s hand again, which was either a “no” or an “I’m ignoring that question”. He scratched Dollar’s chin and pulled out a Poké Ball. Dollar pressed himself against the Poké Ball’s catch without any further action from Sun.

It was the easiest catch he had all day.

When evening came, Sun headed back to Poké Pelago with all his new catches. Mohn needed to know what new Pokémon were available to them so he could plan out what they needed to accomplish tomorrow, and Sun would spend the night in his little hut so he could be up bright and early to help. He docked the yacht and crossed the pier to Mohn’s raft hut.

“I’m back!” Sun called, letting his backpack slide off his shoulders and fall onto the floor.

“Welcome back! I’m in the kitchen,” Mohn called back.

Sun grabbed his backpack by a strap and headed into the “kitchen”. It wasn’t much of a kitchen since they didn’t have any electricity on the island yet, but it was the room where Mohn prepared all his meals. Mohn was a great chef when it came to using Poké Beans – being stuck on an island for over a year with only Poke Beans to eat forced him to get _very_ creative – but he was in an experimental phase now that he had a wider array of ingredients to choose from. Sun usually tried not to be around when Mohn was cooking dinner.

Today, though, Mohn was roasting some Poké Beans on a grate over the fireplace. Any meal involving Mohn’s roasted Poké Beans was bound to be delicious. “What’s on the menu for tonight?” Sun asked eagerly.

“I’m going simple and making some roasted Poké Bean sandwiches,” he answered. “The first batch is on the table. Help yourself!”

“Don’t mind if I do!” Sun chirped, jogging over to the table. Mohn had already set out plates, bread, and a serving dish full of Poké Beans, so Sun put two slices of bread on a plate and pulled the dish of Poké Beans closer to him.

A gray blur suddenly materialized at Sun’s waist and pushed off of his stomach. Sun yelped, stumbling backwards, as Dollar landed on the edge of the serving dish. The dish flipped off the table, clattering on the floor and scattering Poké Beans everywhere. Dollar leaped down after it, picked up some of the fallen Poké Beans, and trotted to the far corner of the kitchen, where he sat down to feast on his prizes.

“Are you alright?” Mohn asked, putting a steady hand on Sun’s shoulder. “What happened?”

“I’m fine,” Sun said, glancing at Mohn and then back to Dollar. “I think my cat just exploited me for food.”

“Your cat?” Mohn repeated, a hint of amusement in his tone. “En?”

“Nah,” Sun said, gesturing in Dollar’s direction. “That’s Dollar. He belonged to my great-gramps, and I _thought_ he rejoined my team today to help us build Poké Pelago. Now I think he just wanted the free food.”

Dollar finished all its Poké Beans and began to groom itself. Mohn stared at it, brow creasing in thought. Sun realized that no one was tending to the Poké Beans anymore and hurried to take them off the fire.

Then, he turned back to Mohn. “Mr. Mohn? What’s up?”

“That Pokémon,” he said slowly, “it’s called Meowth, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“I’ve seen it before. But…I can’t remember where…”

Mohn brought up his amnesia so infrequently that Sun sometimes forgot that he had amnesia at all. He hadn’t remembered anything or found anything familiar since Sun first mentioned Poké Pelago to him. So, Sun thought this might be significant. “They’re pretty common on Melemele Island,” he said. “’Specially around Hau’oli City. Maybe you spent a lot of time there?”

Mohn shook his head. “No, they weren’t wild…I remember playing with a few Meowth indoors,” he said. He pursed his lips and rubbed a hand on his temple. “But whose Meowth were they?”

“Yours? A friend’s? A family member’s?” Sun guessed.

Mohn rubbed his forehead. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he straightened up. “That’s it! I remember!” he exclaimed. “He – that’s why the name Poké Pelago sounded familiar!”

“What is? What did you remember?” Sun asked eagerly.

“When I was a child, I knew a man named Elio,” Mohn said. “He loved Meowth, so he had several. I used to play with them. He also dreamed of building a Pokémon paradise called Poké Pelago. I loved the idea, and I wanted to help him build Poké Pelago when I got older.” He shook his head, a look of amazement on his face. “And here I am, finally making that dream a reality.”

Sun opened his mouth and closed it again, his eyes wide with disbelief. He was having trouble putting his thoughts into words. Finally, he choked out, “ _Elio_ ? You’re sure his name was _Elio_?”

“I’m certain. Why do you ask?”

“It’s just…Elio was my great-grandpa’s name,” Sun said. “You – you literally just described my great-grandpa. You _knew_ my great-grandpa.”

“Really? Elio is your great-grandfather?” Mohn gasped, grasping onto Sun’s shoulders. He fought the urge to squirm away; there was a frenetic energy in Mohn’s eyes the likes of which Sun had never seen from him before. “Can – can you take me to him!?”

“He’s dead,” Sun said bluntly.

Mohn’s shoulders sagged, and he let go of Sun. He stared at the ground for a moment, then looked back up at Sun with a hopeful glint in his eye. “There were other kids that visited Elio and his Meowth. Do you know any of them?”

Sun shook his head. “I don’t know of any kids that my great-gramps was friends with. I…don’t know _anybody_ that my great-gramps was friends with. Sorry,” he added as an afterthought.

“Oh,” Mohn said dejectedly, falling into a chair. He took his straw hat off his head and began turning it in his hands, staring at it as if it would suddenly come to life and tell him all the secrets of the life he’d lost.

Sun felt a weird twinge of something like guilt in his gut, as if he had done something wrong by not getting to know any of his great-grandpa’s friends. He felt bad because Mohn felt bad, and he wished there was something he could do to help. “I’m sorry,” he repeated.

Mohn sighed heavily. “It’s alright. It was before you were born. I wouldn’t expect you to know any of that.”

Sun racked his brain, trying to think of anyone he knew who might’ve known his great-grandpa better than him. His grandparents, probably, but they’d died even earlier than Gramps. His mother hadn’t been that close to Gramps, and Sun hadn’t spoken to her in years, anyways. Who else knew his great-grandpa?

_“This island has belonged to the foundation from the beginning. A powerful man from the foundation gave this island to your great-grandfather for the sake of his dream.”_

The Aether Foundation.

Sun still didn’t trust Aether. He had always despised them for taking away his great-grandpa’s island. Faba had given him false hope for five years that there was a possibility of getting his great-grandpa’s island back. None of this mess would’ve happened if that powerful man from the foundation hadn’t disappeared, and Aether hadn’t changed its mind about letting his great-grandpa keep it.

But on the other hand, Ms. Wicke was always very nice, and she’d apologized on Faba’s behalf for his actions. He’d delivered packages to Aether Paradise a handful of times, and the employees he’d interacted with seemed to genuinely care about the well-being of Pokémon. If the Aether Foundation was _all_ bad, surely his great-grandpa wouldn’t have been working with them.

And in the end, this wasn’t about him, was it?

“Have you ever heard of the Aether Foundation?” Sun asked.

“No,” Mohn said. “What’s that?”

“It’s an organization that takes care of sick and injured wild Pokémon,” Sun said. “My great-grandpa was working with them to build Poké Pelago before he died. I don’t really know how close together they worked, so there might not be anyone there who actually knew my great-grandpa. But they might be able to tell us _something_ about my great-grandpa, and…”

“If we can find out more about your great-grandpa, we might be able to find someone who knew me,” Mohn finished.

“I know it’s a bit of a reach, but–”

“I’m in.”

Sun blinked. “Y-you are?”

He smiled. “You’ve given me hope of reconnecting with my past for the first time since I got stranded on this island, Sun. If there’s a chance I can find something out about myself, I’m going to take it. If nothing else, I’ll get to learn more about someone I used to know. That sounds like a good deal to me.”

“Awesome!” Sun exclaimed. “I’ll go get the boat ready!”

“Wait! Aren’t you going to eat dinner first?”

“We can eat on the way! Let’s go, before the sun sets!”

* * *

Sun let all his Pokémon stay on the island to rest up for the next day’s work, but Dollar followed him onto the yacht anyways and settled himself in the captain’s chair. Good thing Sun wasn’t planning on sitting there. He didn’t know why Dollar was coming with them; maybe he wanted to hear more about Gramps, too? Whatever the reason, he seemed content to stick near Sun for the time being. Sun was happy to have him back.

It was good timing, too – getting back an old friend just as he was about to lose a new one.

He’d realized it while he was setting the boat’s course for Aether Paradise. If Mohn found a link to his past there, or even discovered who he was, he wouldn’t need to stay at the island anymore. He had only been building Poké Pelago because it would help jog his memory; well, his memory had been jogged. He had a shiny new island to help him jog his memory now. Sun would have to complete Poké Pelago all by himself.

Sun left the cabin and headed back out onto the deck. He wondered if he should call ahead and ask Ms. Wicke if she was available to meet Mohn, but he couldn’t take no for an answer now. And besides, there was something that he wanted to ask Mohn before they arrived at Aether Paradise and Sun never got the chance to talk to him again.

“Mr. Mohn?” Sun asked.

The man was standing on the port side of the boat, leaning on the railing, watching the sun sink down towards the ocean waves. He glanced over his shoulder at Sun as he approached. “Yes?”

“I was wondering if you could tell me what you remember about my great-grandpa,” Sun said.

Mohn raised an eyebrow at him. “I still don’t remember much, you know. I’m afraid I don’t have much to share.”

“That’s okay,” Sun said, lowering his gaze to the wooden planks of the deck. “He died when I was six, so I don’t really remember much about him, either.”

Mohn was silent for a moment. Then, he suddenly clapped Sun on the shoulder, causing Sun to jerk up and meet his friendly green eyes. “Well then, I suppose I should share with you as much as I can,” he said with a smile.

They took a seat at the stern of the ship, letting their legs dangle a few feet above the water. “Elio was…kind. Generous. That’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think of him,” Mohn began. “Even when he didn’t have more than he needed, he would still share what he had with others. He had an orchard, right outside his house, and he was always happy to share its fruit with me and the other kids.”

Sun frowned. “He had an orchard? Where?”

Mohn pursed his lips and stared out at the sea. “I…can’t recall,” he said. “I don’t know where I lived, or who the other kids were. I just remember going to Elio’s orchard all the time, and there were other kids at the orchard as well.” He shook his head sadly. “For all I know, they could’ve been your parents or grandparents. I’m not much help. I’m sorry…”

“No, no, you’re a great help!” Sun insisted, twisting to look at Mohn in earnest. “I didn’t know any of this at all!”

Mohn smiled. “Thank you, Sun.” He looked out at the horizon and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Poké Pelago…it was the epitome of his generosity. A place for Pokémon to gather and relax, train and have fun. It would cost them nothing – it was simply going to be a paradise for Pokémon, gifted out of the goodness of his own heart.”

“Oh,” Sun said quietly, shrinking in on himself and staring at the water. Suddenly, the idea of charging Trainers to bring their Pokémon to Poké Pelago seemed a lot less appealing.

“Creating Poké Pelago was Elio’s dream,” Mohn said.

Sun still couldn’t look at him.

Once again, a hand suddenly clapped down on his shoulder, and Sun jolted up to look at Mohn. “I think he would be proud of you for the work you’ve done, making his dream come true,” Mohn said. There was a twinkle in his eye and a warm smile on his face. “I know I am.”

Sun’s cheeks flushed pink. “Th-thank you,” he stammered.

Mohn’s smile only grew wider.

* * *

The boat pulled into the harbor at Aether Paradise just as the sun dipped completely below the horizon. When Sun had to deliver things to Aether Paradise, he always flew in on Charizard, so he wasn’t used to arriving on the basement level. But as long as he could find the elevator, that fact wouldn’t be an issue.

Once they got off the boat, Sun took the lead in the search for the elevator. Several Aether Foundation employees gave them funny looks as they passed – a thirteen-year-old kid, a man in a tank top and torn capris, and a Meowth didn’t usually have reason to be walking through the docks of Aether Paradise. But Sun strode with such confidence that no one questioned whether they were supposed to be there.

They reached the elevator and headed up to the first floor. Sun strolled up to the front desk, where a young Aether Foundation employee was busy typing something into the computer. “’Scuse me, miss,” he said.

The young woman glanced up from her work. “Can I help you?”

“I’ve got a delivery for Ms. Wicke,” he announced. “Where should I bring it?”

“Ah, she’s in the conservation area right now.”

“Perfect! Thank you!” he said, shooting her a grin.

Sun turned around and faced Mohn, who seemed a little disconcerted at the whole show. “Conservation area, second floor,” Sun said, pushing him in the direction of the elevator.

“Isn’t that a little dishonest, what you told that young lady?” Mohn asked.

“Not the first time I’ve delivered a person,” Sun replied cheekily.

In the conservation area, they had to do more searching in order to find Ms. Wicke. It was Dollar who spotted her first, headbutting Sun’s leg to get his attention and pointing to the elevated platform where Ms. Wicke stood. She was writing some notes on a clipboard and totally engrossed in her work when they approached.

“Ms. Wicke?” Sun called.

“Yes?” She glanced up from her clipboard to see who had called her name and smiled upon seeing Sun.

Then her gaze fell on the man standing beside him, and she froze. Her jaw went slack, her eyes widened, and her clipboard clattered to the floor. “Ma…Master Mohn?” she whispered, voice trembling. “Is it really you?”

“Um…hello,” Mohn said, waving awkwardly. “You…know me?”

Ms. Wicke looked bewildered. Even though Sun didn’t know how she knew him, he knew exactly what was confusing her. “He’s got amnesia, Ms. Wicke,” Sun explained. “He doesn’t remember you.”

“Oh,” Ms. Wicke said, covering her mouth with a hand. “That’s right…the young lady did mention that. Oh, I need to call her and the young master right away!”

“Lillie and Gladion?” Sun said. “Why d’you need to call them?”

“Who are Lillie and Gladion?” Mohn asked.

“They’re friends of mine,” Sun explained. “Their mom used to run the Aether Foundation.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Ms. Wicke said. “But more importantly, Master Mohn…they’re your children.”

“Oh,” Sun and Mohn said simultaneously.

Mohn was Lillie and Gladion’s _dad_ ? Sun stared at him; he _did_ look a lot like them. Sun wondered how he didn’t see it sooner. Maybe it was just because he wasn’t looking for it before. Maybe it was because he didn’t want to see it before.

But Mohn didn’t look surprised by the news that he had two kids and a wife. He was just tilting his head curiously. Did he…already _know_ about them? How? And why hadn’t he told Sun anything about it?

Not that any of those questions mattered; Sun would never get answers to any of them. Any moment now, he and Mohn would be parting ways for good.

As Ms. Wicke continued talking, Mohn glanced over at Sun. The corners of his lips curled up into a smile when he noticed Sun watching him. Sun managed a little smile back, but inside his heart was pounding. This was it. No sense delaying the inevitable.

“Sun, you’re welcome to spend the night, too. It is getting late.”

“Thanks, but no thanks, Ms. Wicke,” Sun said briskly. “My Pokémon are waiting for me back on my own island. And we’ve got a lot of work to do in the morning. I’d better be off!”

“Is that so? Safe travels, then,” Ms. Wicke said, smiling softly. “And thank you so much for bringing Master Mohn back to us. Lillie, Gladion, and Lady Lusamine will be eternally grateful, I’m certain.”

“It’s nothing,” Sun shrugged with forced nonchalance. “Just helping out a friend.”

“Sun,” Mohn said, putting a hand on Sun’s shoulder. Sun looked up at him hesitantly. “It’s been a delight getting to develop Poké Pelago with you. And now, I can finally be reunited with my family because of you. From the bottom of my heart…thank you for everything.”

Sun swallowed down the lump in his throat. “You’re welcome,” he said thickly.

Mohn pulled Sun into a hug, and even though Sun wasn’t normally much of a hugger, he wrapped his arms tightly around Mohn and buried his face in his chest.

“This won’t be our final goodbye,” Mohn said softly. “We’ll see each other again. I’m sure of it.”

Sun nodded, but didn’t say anything more; he didn’t trust his voice to work right now. 

It was with great reluctance that he finally let go of Mohn, and he furiously wiped at his eyes afterwards. He didn’t need Mohn or Ms. Wicke to see that he was crying. He picked up Dollar – despite its protests – and quickly waved goodbye, then hurried away.

He made it all the way back to the yacht before the tears started to flow without restraint. Maybe it wouldn’t be their final goodbye. But now that Mohn’s family had entered the picture, things would never be the same between them again.

* * *

It took a week to finish construction on Resort Aphun. Between figuring out how to manage a team of 30 Pokémon workers, maintaining the plants on Resort Abeens and Resort Aplenny, and keeping in touch with Kiawe to handle issues with the delivery service, Sun had a lot of work on his plate and couldn’t run things as efficiently as he’d been able to before. He definitely needed to hire someone to maintain Poké Pelago full time before it could open to the public.

On top of that, when he took a look at the plans for Resort Evelup, he realized that he would need even more Pokémon power to construct it. Which meant he’d need to spend the following day on another trip to the mainland to catch Pokémon. Which meant he’d have to leave his Pokémon to start construction unsupervised, or else give them a day off.

Day off it was.

Sun woke up bright and early so he could get to catching as soon as possible. He was bringing Baht with him to help weaken wild Pokémon, while the rest of his team would get to spend the day relaxing in the raft hut. He grabbed a piece of bread and spread Pecha Berry jelly on it to serve as his breakfast – it would’ve tasted better toasted, but it wasn’t worth starting a whole fire just to toast a single slice.

A knock on the door startled him and nearly made him spit out his bread. He swallowed quickly and called out “Coming!” before heading to the door. Who in the world would be visiting him on the island, and this early in the morning at that? None of the Pokémon would be polite enough to knock on the door.

Sun opened it. Standing on the other side, straw hat tilted to keep the sun off his face, green jacket tied around his neck, water dripping down his legs, was Mohn.

“Morning, Sun,” he said with a smile.

Sun gaped at him like a Magikarp and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “How did you get here?”

Mohn chuckled. “I took a boat, of course,” he said. “There wasn’t enough room for it to dock, so I had to jump out and wade a bit to get to shore.”

“B-but why are you here?” Sun stuttered. “I thought – you were reunited with your family, weren’t you? Shouldn’t you be with them?”

“I’ve been with them,” Mohn said, a soft smile crossing his face. “It was wonderful to get to see them, and learn about them, and learn about myself. But Lillie and Gladion are all grown up and traveling the world now, and quite frankly, I’ve had enough of that. They wanted to get back out and see more of the world, and I told them I’d be staying at home until they got back.”

“If you’re staying at home, then why are you here?” Sun asked, brow furrowing. “Isn’t Aether Paradise your home?”

“Oh, gosh, no!” Mohn exclaimed, shaking his head. “I may have worked there before, but it seems too pristine to me now. I couldn’t feel comfortable living there.

“No, home is where the heart is. And my heart belongs here at Poké Pelago.” He smiled fondly. “And I can’t imagine my home being complete without you.”

Sun ducked his head bashfully and, for the second time in as many weeks, found himself being pulled into a hug by Mohn. Mohn held him tight, and Sun squeezed back just as tightly. “I missed you,” Sun admitted.

“I missed you, too.”

Sun had a lot of friends; he didn’t have any family. But in that moment, Sun realized that he had found a friend who was like family, and that was just as good.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are always appreciated <3


End file.
